Innovate UK Frontier AI Discovery - £2.5M+ shared grant pool
Expires: 2026-06-10
Description
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+ 1 Innovate UK competition (part of the AI Champions / Sovereign AI Unit programme) offering UK-registered organisations a share of at least £2.5 million to run 3-month feasibility studies for frontier AI and foundation models. This is Phase 1 of a two-phase pipeline — successful Phase 1 projects can be invited to bid for Phase 2 collaborative R&D projects worth £5M-£10M each (minimum £50M total pool). Competition opened 14 April 2026 and closes 10 June 2026 at 11:00 BST.
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+ 7 • You are a UK-registered business, research organisation, RTO, charity, not-for-profit, public sector body or NGO
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+ 8 • You can carry out the work in the UK and intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
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+ 9 • You have an ambitious, novel frontier AI or foundation-model idea (not routine integration of existing tools)
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+ 10 • You can deliver a feasibility study (research, technical scoping, consortium-building) within 3 months between 1 October 2026 and 31 January 2027
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+ 11
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+ 12 Not a fit if: you only want to integrate existing AI tools, you're hardware-focused rather than AI-focused, your project is fully autonomous targeting (explicitly excluded), or you're a non-UK entity.
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+ 18 ItemDetail
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+ 19 Total pool (Phase 1)At least £2,500,000 across all winners
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+ 20 Per-project total eligible costs£25,000 - £50,000
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+ 21 Grant rate (micro/small)Up to 70% of eligible costs
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+ 22 Grant rate (medium)Up to 60%
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+ 23 Grant rate (large)Up to 50%
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+ 24 Grant rate (research orgs)Up to 100%
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+ 25 Project durationUp to 3 months
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+ 26 Project windowStart by 1 Oct 2026, end by 31 Jan 2027
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+ 27 Phase 2 follow-on£5M-£10M per project, 24-32 months
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+ 28
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+ 29 Application type: Single applicant only (no consortium allowed in Phase 1). Subcontracting is permitted up to 30% of total project costs and subcontractors must be UK-based.
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+ 35 1. Go to the Innovation Funding Service: apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/2422/overview/a5c16dd4-c60d-4cc1-8035-33fe76a52489
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+ 36 2. Read the Competition overview in full and click "Start application"
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+ 37 3. Sign in or register for an Innovation Funding Service (IFS) account (uses email + password; verifies your UK organisation via Companies House lookup or manual entry for charities / public sector)
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+ 38 4. Add organisation details, project summary, and invite any internal collaborators (Phase 1 is single-applicant — no external partners on the application)
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+ 39 5. Complete the application form — typically: project details, scope, technical approach, team, exploitation plan, costs, risk, project management
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+ 40 6. Complete the Project Finance form (full economic costing for academics, standard finance form for businesses)
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+ 41 7. Run the application through your organisation's internal sign-off (many universities require an internal deadline weeks before — check with your research office)
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+ 42 8. Submit before 10 June 2026, 11:00 BST
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+ 43 9. Decisions are typically communicated 8-10 weeks after the close date; project must start by 1 October 2026
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+ 44
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+ 45 Tips:
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+ 46 • Attend the online briefing on 22 April 2026 at 14:00 BST (recording usually published afterwards on Innovate UK Business Connect)
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+ 47 • Many universities have internal restricted-call deadlines (e.g. Cambridge: 30 April 2026) — check your institution's research office before drafting
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+ 48 • Reported success rate is ~2% for similar competitions — write a sharp, novel, well-scoped pitch
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+ 49 • Phase 1 is meant to build the consortium for Phase 2 — start identifying potential Phase 2 partners during the feasibility study
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+ 55 Feasibility studies should:
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+ 56 • Develop new-to-the-world AI / ML / foundation-model capabilities (not incremental work)
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+ 57 • Capture opportunities aligned with Sovereign AI Unit thematic priorities
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+ 58 • Include a quantified market assessment
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+ 59 • Build the technical and partnership case for a Phase 2 collaborative R&D bid (£5M-£10M)
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+ 60 • Show how outputs will be exploited from or in the UK
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+ 61
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+ 62 Will NOT be funded:
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+ 63 • Projects without quantified market assessments
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+ 64 • Routine integration of existing AI tools without novel development
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+ 65 • Hardware-focused projects rather than AI innovation
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+ 66 • Fully autonomous targeting applications
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+ 67 • Activities that breach UK sanctions or subsidy control rules
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+ 73 Only Phase 1 winners can be invited to apply.
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+ 74
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+ 75 ItemDetail
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+ 76 PoolMinimum £50,000,000
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+ 77 Per project£5M - £10M
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+ 78 Duration24 - 32 months
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+ 79 Must end by31 March 2030
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+ 80 TypeCollaborative R&D consortium (not single applicant)
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+ 81 Consortium funding mixLarge 30-40%, SMEs >30%, Academic 20-30% of project costs
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+ 82
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+ 84
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+ 86
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+ 87 • AI Champions: Frontier AI Phase 1 — competition 2419, separate call within the same Sovereign AI mandate
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+ 88 • Frontier AI Benchmarking Datasets — competition 2424, opened 21 April 2026, closes 27 May 2026, up to £4.5M, collaborations only (must include a UK SME)
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+ 89 • Sovereign AI - Proof of concept — competition 2259, separate proof-of-concept call
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+ 90 • UK Sovereign AI Fund — separate venture investment vehicle (£1M-£20M equity + 1M GPU hours) at sovereignai.gov.uk
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+ 96 • The IFS portal is the only way to apply — no email submissions accepted
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+ 97 • Match-funding is required for businesses (you must cover 30-50% of costs from your own funds depending on size)
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+ 98 • Research organisations can claim 100% but this is via 80% Full Economic Cost (FEC) academic costing
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+ 99 • Subcontracting cap of 30% means you cannot outsource the whole project
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+ 100 • Get your DUNS / Companies House data ready — IFS uses these for organisation verification
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+ 101 • Innovate UK Business Connect runs free briefings, KTN events, and consortium-matching — useful for finding Phase 2 partners early
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+ 104
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+ 105 Sources:
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+ 106 • Frontier AI Discovery — GOV.UK Find a Grant
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+ 107 • Competition overview — Innovation Funding Service
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+ 108 • Frontier AI Discovery — Innovate UK Business Connect
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+ 109 • GrantTree analysis — Frontier AI Discovery
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+ 110 • Cambridge Neuroscience restricted call notice
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